I.Background

Designing the course could be the most important think before starting a course in every

single learning process. It is used help both of teachers and students surely in learning

process. There are several things that should be considered in designing a course, one of

them is need analysis. Need analysis isdirectedmainlyatthegoalsandcontentofacourse.It

examines what the learners know already and what they needtoknow. Need

analysismakessurethatthecoursewillcontainrelevantanduseful thing to learn.

There are five indicators in need analysis(the various focuses of need analysis , discovering

needs,need analysis tools, evaluating need analysis, and Issues in need analysis).Good

need analysis involves asking the right questions and finding the answers in the most

effective way. That’s why this paper will elaborate briefly about need analysis of the

curriculum design process to discovered what need to be learned and the learners want it

to learn.

II. Content

1. TheVariousFocusesofNeedAnalysis

The aim of this section of the chapter is to look at the range of information that can

be gathered in needs analysis.Hutchinson and Waters (1987) divide needs into

1. Necessities What is necessary in the learners’ use of language? Forexample, do the

learners have to write answers to examquestions?(what the learner has to know to

function effectively)

2. Lacks What do the learners lack? For example, are there aspectsof writing that were

not practised in their previouslearning (L1, L2)?(what the learner knows and does

not know already)

3. Wants What do the learners wish to learn? (what thelearners think they need).

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Targetneeds

Learningneeds

what the learner needs to do in the target

situation

What the learner needs to do in order to learn

Another way to look at needs is to make a major division

Lacks fit into present knowledge, Necessities fit into required

knowledge, and Wants fit into subjective needs

A. objective needs

Information about objective needs can be gathered by questionnaires, personal

interviews, data collection (for example, gathering exam papers or text books and

analyzing them), observation (for example, following a learner through a typical day),

informal consultation with teachers and learners, and tests.

B. Subjective needs

Subjective needs are discovered through learner self-assessmentusing lists and

scales, and questionnaires and interviews.

The outcomes of need analysis must be useful for curriculum design. It is not worth

gathering needs analysis information if no application can be found for it. It is

therefore useful to do a pilot study first to check for this.

Table 3.2 Questions for focusing on needs

goal questions Types of informantion in

the answers

Language What will the course be used for?How proficient does the user have to be?What communicative activities will the learner take part in?Where will the language be used?

vocabularygrammatical

structuresfunctions

set phrases and set sentences

tasks

ideas What content matter will the learner be working with?

TopicsThemes

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between

Present knowledge and

Required knowledge

Objective needs Subjective needs

and

texts

2. Discovering Needs

Necessities, lacks and wants may all involve some kind of comparison orreference to

lists of items which can act as the learning goals of the course.An exception to this is

to base the course on what the learners request. Inthis case the lists are created by

the learners. This is effective if the learnershave very clear purposes for learning

English which they are aware of. Forexample, a course for immigrants who have

been in the country a fewmonths could very effectively be based on a list of things

that they suggestthey want to be able to do in English. We will look more closely at

this in thechapter on negotiated syllabuses.

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3. Need Analysis Tools

Need analysis tools is the technique or method and instrument to gather the

information that focus on needs ( Neccesities, Lacks, and wants) . Let us look

atpossibletoolsin more detailbytakingthe caseofanEnglish for academic purposes

course which is preparing learners of English for university study.

Table 3.3 Methods and example of need analysis

Type of need focus method example

Neccesities proficiency Self reportProficiency testing

Level of vocabulary knowledge

Fluently in reading speed

Situations of use Self-repostObservation and analysis review of previous research corpus analysis

Analysis of textsAnalysis of tasks

Lacks Proficiency Self-report testing Vocabulary tests

Situation of use Self-report observation and analysis

Examiners’ reports

wants Wishes Self-report

use observation Records of choices of activities teachers obeservation

A. Neccessities.

We can call neccesities the type of need determined by the demands of target

tasks. That is, what will the learners have to do when they do university study?

Listening to lectures, writing assignments and tasks, and sitting exams.For

example focus on profieciency:

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The researcher (designer) could analyze level of students’ vocabulary knowledge

by using self report proficiency testing. Self report is any method which involve

responsesto a structured set of questions or to a sentence completion task. In

testing level of vocabulary the researcher will know how fluent the students can

improve their reading speed. The students who have large vocabulary will more

fluent in reading speed, because they know more vocabulary then the students

who have less vocabulary.

Let’s take an assignment as an example focus on situation of use:

1. We could analyze the kinds of language needed to do an assignment, by

doing vocabulary analysis. Is it necessary to have a large vocabulary to write

a good assignment or a limited ones.

2. We can look at past assignment topics to see the kind of discourse:

descriptions, analyses, comparisons.

3. We could interview university staff to see what they expect in a good

assignment.

4. Another source of information would be to look in course outlines and other

departmental information to see if there are any guidelines on writing

assignments.

5. Access to assignments from successful students in previous years could be a

useful source of information.

6. We could also look at the timeframe involved in writing an assignment.

B. Lacks

To identify neccessities alone, it is not enough. An important part of needs

analysis involves looking at where learners are at present. For example focus on

proficiency:

The researcher can measure what a learners knows of language by using TOEFL

test. At the begining class at course, the students only get 300 score in TOEFL

test, but the stake holder wants the students will get 450 score as a minimal

score. So between the students’ knowledge and the goals there is a gap. Gap is

the lacks, how well the students can do it already to get 450 score.

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Another way to look at an assignment is to look at the parts of the writing

process and to see what degree of skill in each part is reflected in the assignment

There are Sources of information about lacks;

1. Looking at the assignment that the learners have just written. (The

assignment can be analyzed from an information perspective, from a

grammar perspective and from the discourse perspective).

2. Observing students’ writing can give some insight into these conditions.

(Observation and analysis involve process and product)

3. Another source could come from the university lecturer who marks the

assignment. This information could be gathered by using a think aloud

protocol as the examiner marks the assignment.Think aloud protocol method

is a method used to gather data in usability testing in product design and

development. Think-aloud protocol involve participants thinking aloud as

they are performing a set of specified tasks. Users are asked to say or write

whatever they are looking at, thinking, doing, and feeling as they go about

their task. This enables observers to see first hand the process of task

completion (rather than only its final product).

4. The learners themselves are also a very useful source of information. This

information ca be gathered by interviewing them.

- Learners’ general proficiency contributes to the way they handle any

language task.To gather data about this, we can interview them, get them to

sit tests, or we can get them to do self-assessment using a prepared

checklist.

C. Wants

So far, the researcher have considered target needs only in an objective sense,

with the actual learners playing no active role. But the laerners too, have a view

as to what their needs are. Information about student’s wants is useful in

working out whether the learners’ views and the needs analyst’s views are the

same or not. If they are not the same, then the curriculum designer may need to

rethink the results or persuade the learners that there is a more useful view of

what they need.

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For example in the case, the students at the town need a projector to learn

about speaking.The material is including video and movie from the native

speaker, however student’s need and the environment is not match. So as the

designer we should find the match way to solve this problem. If there is no

projector, we could read the conversation from the video or movie itself.

We can gather such information about lacks through an interview and

questuionare. Doing interview is better because questionares are notorious

difficult to designwell. However a well designed questionare can be a very useful

source informationwhichcanbe reused for later courses.

According to explanation, we conclude that needs are changing so it is important that needs

are looked at from a variety of perspectives at a variety of times. The perspectives can vary

according to:

Type of need : lack, necessities, wants; orpresent knowledge, required knowledgeobjective

and subjective needs.

Source of infor-mation: Present or past learners, teachers, present or future tasks and

materials, future colleagues, assessors, or teachers

Data gathering tools : text analysis, frequency counts, interviews, questionnaire,

observation, negotiation and discussion, reflection on experience

Type of infor-mation :learning goals, preferred styles of learning, learners’ commitment to

learning.

The times of needs analysis :Before a course begins,during the running of a course until, at

the end of a course.if the course is to be repeated with different learners, then need

analysis at the end of course is useful.

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4. Evaluating Needs Analysis

Needs analysis is a kind of assessment and thus can be evaluated by considering reliability,

validity and practicality.

a. Reliable needs analysis, involves using well-thought-out, standardized tools that

applied systematically. Rather than just observing people performing tasks that

learners will have to do after the course, it is better to systematize the observation

by using a checklist. The more pieces of observation and the more people who are

studied, the reliable the results.

Reliable means consistent. If we ask some questions to the student that consist of 30

students, the answer that we got are 80% similar. It means that the test is reliable.

b. Valid needs analysis, involves looking at what is relevant and important.

Consideration of the type of need that is being looked at and the type of information

that is being gathered is important. Before needs analysis begins it may be necessary

to do a ranking activity to decide what type of need should get priority in the needs

analysis investigation. It means that the solution of the problem that we got should

be accurate. The necessities and wants or wish of the stakeholder should be

accurate.

c. Practical needs analysis is not expensive, does not occupy too much of the learners’

and teacher’s time, provides clear, easy-to-understand results and can easily be

incorporated into the curriculum design process. There will always be a tension

between reliable and valid needs analysis and practical needs analysis. A

compromise is necessary but validity should always be given priority

So, in need analysis, that should be evaluate are the instrument and the items of the

instrument that will be used. The example is TOEFL test. TOEFL test evaluated before used

to test. The data that collected was real data and valid data and it was reliable to used.

TOEFL test can be the example of evaluating needs analysis because TOEFL test proved in

the world.

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5. Issues in Needs Analysis

There are several issues in needs analysis that have been the focus of continuing debate.

Three are briefly discussed here.

a. Common core and specialized language

What are the content selection stages that a special purposes language course

should follow? From a vocabulary point of view, the learners should first focus on a

common core of 2000 words, then focus on general academic vocabulary of their

particular disciplines, then focus on the specialized technical words.

The example of common core is simple present tense and simple past tense. In

structure, we learn about simple present tense and simple past tense. When we talk

about simple present tense or simple past tense, all of the learners with all kind of

background that they have, know and understand about simple present tense and

simple past tense. It is because simple present tense and simple past tense is familiar

and often used in English.

The example of specialized language is passive voice or complex sentences. Only

some of the learners with special background know and understand about passive

voice or complex sentences. It is because passive voice or complex sentences usually

used in medical or technical.

b. Narrow focus-wide focus

Detailed systems of needs analysis have been set up to determine precisely what

language learner with clear needs should learn. The arguments in favor of a narrow

focus include the faster meeting of needs, the reduction of the quantity of learning

needed, and the motivation that comes from getting an immediate return from

being able to apply learning. If language learners have more than very short-term

goals for language learning not only satisfies immediate needs but also provides the

basis for the development of control of the wider language system. The example is,

student of English Department is learn English in general. They are learn all about

English, such us English for teaching Business and technology, English for nurse,etc. it

means that the focus here is wide, they learn English in general. But when a nurse,

learn about English for nurse, it means that their focus is narrow. Why? Because

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their vocabulary, terminology, idioms is all about English for nurse. They learn

English for special purpose.

c. Critical needs analysis

Benesch (1996) points out with some striking examples that needs analysis is

affected by the ideology of those in control of the analysis. That is, the questions

they ask, the areas they investigate, and the conclusions they draw are inevitably

influenced by their attitudes to change and the status quo. For this reason, it is

worth considering a wide range of possible viewpoints when deciding on the focus of

needs analysis, and seeking others’ views on where change could be made.

III. Conclusion

1. Discover learner needs by considering lacks, wants and necessities or some

other framework.

2. Good need analysis thus covers a range of need using a range of data getting

tool.

3. Needs are not always clear and always changing, so it is important that needs

are looked at from a variety of perspectives at a variety of times

4. Decide what course content and presentation features will meet these needs.

5. Need analysis makes sure that a course will be relevant and satisfying to

stake holder, owner, director, and learners.

6. As a designer, we should keep the procedures from the needs of analysis.

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References

Nation, I. S. P., & Macalister, J. (2010).Language Curriculum Design. New York

and London: Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

Richards, J.C. (2001).Curriculum development in language teaching.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

www.wikipedia.com

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APPENDIXES

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